


just errors in your software

by lookoutforburningbuildings



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Androids, Connor centric, Graphic surgery, I Had To, Jericho has an official twitter, Kind of happy ending, Millennial Hank Anderson, Trans Connor, Trans Female Character, Trans Male Character, Trans characters written by trans people, i tried to make her not a stereotype because of the whole violent trans woman thing, im sorry if i did it wrong please tell me if i did!, this took forever to finish my brain is frazzled, trans North
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-18
Updated: 2018-08-18
Packaged: 2019-06-29 06:21:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,313
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15723741
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lookoutforburningbuildings/pseuds/lookoutforburningbuildings
Summary: “It’s a lovely name, you just can’t register a female name to a male android.” It said. Every human in the room froze, and a few jaws dropped. “You’ve also somehow messed up my outer casing. The chest plate is wrong, along with the speaker. I think something went wrong in my building. Maybe a wrong switch was flipped.”





	just errors in your software

The android opened its eyes. The first thing it knew was the blinding lights of the room. It could  _ see _ . It quickly raised a hand up to cover its eyes, screwing them shut. The second thing it knew was that it could hear people talking. It could  _ hear _ .. It slowly pulled its hand down, blinking a few times to help adjust to the light. People --  _ humans _ \-- were in the room with it. It looked around, seeing six people in the room. 

 

It quickly ran a quick runthrough of its programming, just to see what this all was. After a fast scan, it knew exactly what was happening, and who it was. RK800, 313 248 317, male, created August of 2038, meant to be used as a detective and police officer. Simple enough. Sounded interesting. 

 

RK800 also decided to run a scan of everyone in the room. It could see parts of their faces, which was just enough to analyze. Everything paused, and it could see squares across their faces, and moving his head led him to select a person to analyze. All the names were different, along with dates of birth, but the jobs and criminal records were the same. CyberLife employee, no previous criminal record. Alright.

 

They were all talking, conversing about the android they had finished building. That would be it, wouldn’t it? RK800. It took another glance around the room, taking in the machinery around it, and the desks and chairs in the corner of the room. It looked back to the people, and one of them was holding a clipboard, and was staring intently at the android, occasionally checking things off. Weird.

 

It looked down and saw itself, and something was wrong. It looked around the room at the people, who barely seemed to notice that it was wrong. Why didn’t they notice? It could easily deduce that they had looked over it beforehand and had determined what was wrong and what wasn’t. How could they not notice the obvious thing that was wrong? 

 

“Can you hear me?” A voice asked, pulling it out of its thoughts. One of the workers was talking to it. The android nodded in response. “Good.” They looked to the other workers, who had dropped all conversation in order to talk with the one worker. They finally looked back up to it and spoke again. “Can you speak?” 

 

“Yes.” It said, and suddenly raised a hand up to its throat in confusion and surprise. That voice was too... _ distant _ . It didn’t feel like its own. It sounded like it belonged to somebody else. It was too soft and high pitched. First the physical error, and now the speaker error? It took in everyone’s reactions, and none of them seemed fazed by it. They, in fact, seemed excited. 

 

Another worker spoke instead. “Alright, let’s register name and then get all these tests done.” They said, looking to the other workers, who all nodded. They took the clipboard from the other and stepped a bit closer to the machine RK800 was standing at. “RK800, register name--”

 

Oh.

Yeah, that was not happening.

 

“I cannot register that name.” The android said. The workers all stopped, and looked to each other in confusion. After a moment, the whispers and talking started. Asking if there was something wrong, asking if there was some ‘deviance’ issue, asking if they should try again. The worker cleared their throat and repeated what they had said. “I cannot register that name. Try something else.” It said.

 

“What the fuck?” One of them said, making the others look towards them. 

 

The confusion grew, and the others started talking about the name itself. Maybe they were pronouncing it wrong, and so they tried to say it differently. RK800 shook its head, echoing what it had said before. “I don’t understand how you all aren’t seeing the problem with that name.” It added on, thinking it wasn’t too rude.

 

“Alright then. What’s the problem with the name?” One of the workers asked. The others looked at them as if they were stupid, and they quickly explained that the android itself would know better than anyone that something was wrong. They looked back to RK800. “What’s wrong with the name?”

 

“It’s not the name itself.” It started to explain. “It’s a lovely name, you just can’t register a female name to a male android.” It said. Every human in the room froze, and a few jaws dropped. “You’ve also somehow messed up my outer casing. The chest plate is wrong, along with the speaker. I think something went wrong in my building. Maybe a wrong switch was flipped.”

 

The workers all looked to each other, all of them equally confused. A few of them started whispering, as if what they said would be rude to the android or something. It wasn’t like the android would care. All it was made to do was complete a task. Simple enough. It tilted its head when someone pointed at it, but made no attempt to hear them better or talk to them.

 

“How many lines of code do you need to fuck up to make a transgender android?!” One of them said, much louder than the others, heads turning at the sudden outburst. RK800 folded its arms behind its back, letting everything happen. “Fuck, we need to contact our superiors.” They muttered. “I’ll call him, you all figure this shit out. Somebody check the programming.”

 

“Got it.” One of them nodded, and gestured for the android to move forward. RK800 did as told and stepped away from the machine, other workers taking steps back to leave room for it. The worker who had spoken walked over and behind the android, and it could feel something touch the top of its spine before it blacked out. A good minute passed before it turned back on, all limbs feeling limp and tingly until it moved them all again, lifting its head up again.

 

“So, what? We have an android that’s programmed as a male…” One of the workers in front of it said, looking RK800 up and down. ”And we were told it was a female?” They asked, almost hissing, their voice a bit more high pitched. 

 

“I guess!” The worker behind it responded, walking away from the android. “How the fuck do you mess that up?” They asked. “God, androids really are gonna replace us all one day if we keep making mistakes like this.” A few more minutes of people just talking with each other, and RK800 was focused mostly on the worker on the phone. He kept relaying information on the android and what they had just discovered, and nodding to themself. After a while, they said goodbye and put the phone down, groaning and walking back over.

 

“Well, we can either completely reprogram it, or we can work on the exterior and make it fit that of a male android. Apparently, reprogramming it would be too difficult, and they recommend accommodating the appearance or some shit.” They explained. “We have to start by giving it a better name, though.” Everyone was silent for a moment. “Any suggestions?”

 

“How about, uh...Connor?” One of them said after a minute of discussion (which nobody even thought to ask the android about its opinion, though it didn’t really matter). “It means, like, a hound, or someone who desires something. It’s going to be police officer, right? So, like an upgraded police hound.”

 

“That’ll work.” The one with the clipboard said. They sighed, crossing something out on the paper in the clipboard and writing something else down. “This CyberLife record is going to be fifty fucking pages long.” They muttered.

 

Another worker took a step forward to the android, looking back once for confirmation, then looking back to it and speaking. “RK800, register name: Connor.”

 

“My name is Connor.” 

 

A small popup came into the corner of his vision.

 

_ “Software Instability ^” _

 

\---

 

The changes that had to be made to the android would not be easy. Some things they just couldn’t change, either. In between the operations to change things, they would run tests. It became a much faster process than originally thought. They had given Connor a haircut, replaced his chestplate, and replaced the original outfit with something more fitting. 

 

The next thing to do was figure out his speaker.

 

They had presented Connor with an option: Waste a lot of energy to change and modify his voice on his over with the voice changer built into the speaker, or he could get the speaker replaced entirely. Connor chose the latter option. 

 

The operations were difficult, as they didn’t want to nick any stray wires and mess something up. They had completely thrown out the idea of certain procedures because of that fact (that and Connor didn’t mind certain things). The one near the throat area would be very difficult, but the risks were still lessened. Difficult, not in terms of damage, but in terms of figuring out where to go through to get the speaker out and either screwing a new one or somehow modifying it while it was still in his body.

 

Also, Connor was going to be awake during the operations.

 

He couldn’t feel pain, that was one thing. Entering him into stasis would also made things somewhat harder. He could also tell them if something had gone wrong. It would just be easier if he was awake during the procedure. At least, that’s what they had told him. Connor himself didn’t agree, thinking it could just be a bit more trouble, because he was still able to move and struggle. Also, not feeling pain? Yeah, but he could still feel discomfort and pressure. And this would be a lot of discomfort and pressure. But he never bothered to argue. It wouldn’t get him anywhere.

 

He sighed, messing with the coin that one of the workers had given him when he was fidgeting and shaking his hands to distract himself. They said he could find something to do with it. He found the feeling of the coin helpful, and he had learned some cool tricks with it as well. The other androids he had met at CyberLife wanted to try it out, but he didn’t really want to give away his coin. He had no real reason to say no, but he never bothered to think about why.

 

One of the worker androids was in the room with him, and was preparing a lot of items, most likely for the operation (he would call it surgery, but it technically wasn’t because surgery was usually performed on humans). He knew that this operation would be much more difficult than the other ones he had gone through. He wasn’t scared, though. Androids were incapable of being scared. He was just a bit tired of waiting.

 

“It’s a bit weird, isn’t it?” The android asked. Connor made a ‘hm?’ noise and looked over to her. She smiled down at him. “Y’know. Going through these operations while you’re awake.” He just shrugged. “Not very talkative, huh?”

 

“I doubt talking would make the operation easier. It would work up my speaker and make it a bit more difficult to replace.” Connor explain, flicking the coin between his hands.

 

“That’s true.” She said. “Better if you don’t speak, then.” She turned back to the tools. “I’ll do the talking. I’m an ST600 model. Call me Chandler.” She turned once again to look back to Connor. “And you’re an RK800. Connor.” Connor nodded. “You’re actually quite talked about among the human workers. They don’t know much about how to go about changing your outward appearance. I guess they’ve never seen a report like yours.” He shrugged. “Well, I’m sure your case file is very long with all these operations.”

 

The door opened and both androids looked over and the Chandler android smiled. The man who walked in was a worker that Connor had met with before to talk about the speaker change. He was the one who would be doing the operation. He smiled at Chandler, waving slightly before turning to Connor. “Ready?” Connor nodded.

 

After a few minutes of everything getting fully set up and telling Connor what to do, He was laying down on the mat, head looking upwards and the android, along with the worker, standing at his side, ready to replace the speaker. Finding the new speaker was easy, as they had taken one from a previous line of androids who were being deactivated. It would be easy to make copies of if Connor had been --  _ ahem _ \-- interrupted during his investigations. He thought the voice would be fitting. 

 

The man once again asked if Connor was ready, and he nodded. The man picked up a tool from the table and slowly made a cut from the edge of his jaw to his collarbone. The single cut drew out drops of blue blood that the worker quickly wiped away with a rag Chandler had given him. It had been such a weird sensation, and Connor did his best not to move around at it. It felt like, well, exactly what someone cutting into your throat would feel like, just without the human form of pain. Like something had been stuck inside and was pushed down, which, to be fair, was exactly what was happening.

 

The man grabbed another tool and used it to open up the laceration, and Connor breathed out a sigh of warm air from his system. The feeling was so foreign and strange, and he didn’t like it. He curled his hands into fists, and Chandler must have noticed it because she reached on to the table and handed him his coin. He flashed her a quick smile and rubbed the coin between his fingers.

 

“If this is too... _ stressful _ , we can try to speed it up.” The man suggested, pausing in the middle of the sentence to look for a better word before realizing there wasn’t one. Connor slowly shook his head and the man nodded. “Okay.” He muttered, grabbing another tool, possibly the previous one used to cut into his neck. He dug in deeper, finally exposing the chamber that acted as a throat for the android. He moved the spreaders further inwards. “The speaker is exposed, we just need to get it out of there.” He explained.

 

Chandler handed over another tool, and it was carefully pushed through the hole in his neck, reaching the speaker, and digging around it, trying to carve it out. Connor’s eye twitched and he grit his teeth. That was not a good feeling. Bad feeling, bad feeling. He ignored the warning popups in his field of vision and focused on the coin in his hand.

 

After a long few minutes, the man had finally removed the speaker and managed to pull it  _ out _ of the hole in his neck. Connor could feel the object missing, and it had felt so strange. Like an emptiness. The man picked up the new speaker, and pulled the spreads back further, opening the wound more. He had managed to replace the speaker quite quickly, much faster than Connor had expected. 

 

“We need to close the wound now, which with androids is much easier. We just need to cauterize the wounds and close them with the burning.” He explained, as if Connor wanted to know. “Before that, try saying something, okay?” 

 

“Okay.” Connor said, his voice sounding a lot different, yet almost weaker, most likely from the ‘stress’ of the situation. The man nodded and moved to grab another tool, and removed the spreaders before moving the synthetic skin and muscle together and moving the tool to burn them closed. The feeling was much like the others, and he could feel his throat starting to heat up, and he had to keep his mouth at least somewhat open in order to get the heat out of his system.

 

The man finally pulled away after a long moment, and both him and Chandler looked over the wounds before Chandler nodded. “It looks good. We just need to keep it covered and let it fully close on its own.” She said. The man nodded and grabbed a large bandage from the table along with bandaging tape. He placed and taped the bandages down before stepping back, smiling. “You can speak now, Connor.” She said.

 

Connor sat up, running a hand through his newly short hair and smiled. “That was much more weird than my chestplate operation.” He said, his voice sounding much more different, but in the best way. It was deeper and fitting for his newer design.

 

“Well, that’s because this one was on your throat.” The man shrugged. “Chandler will run a few tests and then you can go back to the others.” He said, walking over to the door. “Don’t wear your voice out too fast.” Connor nodded and he left the room.

 

“So, what do you think?” Chandler asked.

 

“Well…” Connor paused for a moment, thinking. There was a feeling in his chest and just hearing his voice made him want to smile for no real reason. He felt much better than before the operation. It was  _ strange _ . “I think I like it.”

 

_ “Relationship: Chandler ^” _

_ “Software Instability ^” _

 

\---

 

Connor had been sent off. He was given a task and was sent to finish it, and he had done just that. He had  _ been _ doing that, and now here he was. He was standing outside of a fast food truck at one of the outdoor tables, standing next to Lieutenant Hank Anderson. They were assigned all cases involving androids and deviance. At the moment, they were just waiting for any updates.

 

“Any questions for me?” Connor asked, raising an eyebrow. 

 

“No.” Hank said instantly before catching himself. “Well, actually, yeah.” Connor tilted his head, waiting for the question. “Why did they make you so goofy looking and give you that weird voice?” He asked.

 

Connor wasn’t sure if the question was serious or not, but he decided to answer anyways. Answer truthfully or with a lie, he would still answer. “My internal speaker and my outward appearance were both mistakes on CyberLife’s part.” Hank raised an eyebrow. “I was intended to look much different, but after reviewing my programming, they realized I needed to look different, and sound different, too.” He explained. “You can see something that resembles a scar on my neck from where they put in a new speaker.”

 

Hank tilted his head a bit and Connor lifted his upward, allowing Hank to actually see the mark. “Oh.” Hank muttered. “That’s pretty fucking weird.”

 

“It is strange how they managed to mess up.” Connor nodded. “For the famous android creators of Detroit, they can make incredible mistakes.” He said. “I was lucky they didn’t break anything when replacing my speaker. I could’ve told them if they did, though”

 

“Wait, you were awake during it?”

 

“I don’t feel pain.” Connor said. “In fact, I met another android in the building I was created and fixed in who said it was deactivated due to a problem that could make it feel pain. Not like deviance, but it could feel pain.” 

 

“An android feeling pain, eh?” Hank asked. “Yet it wasn’t a deviance issue?”

 

“The android was only simulating pain in its system. It wasn’t exactly like human pain, but it was still happening. It made it difficult for the android to work functionally. It felt pain almost every second, so CyberLife decided to deactivate it instead of trying to fix it.”

 

“That’s kind of stupid.”

 

“I beg to differ.”

 

“Then beg.”

 

Connor blinked.

 

\---

 

Even with a gun held to his head, Markus somehow managed to keep his composure. Connor didn’t know how a deviant like him couldn’t experience fear like one should be. “What are you doing?” He asked. “You’re one of us.” He had said.

 

No, no he wasn’t. He was sure of that. 

 

But...was he?

 

Markus kept talking, and Connor said nothing in return. He had a job to do, that was all that was running through his mind. No other thoughts, just  _ focus on the  _ **_mission_ ** . He did his best, but the memories from the CyberLife workshop kept coming back to him. It wasn’t just the whole gender thing, it was...everything. The coin, Chandler, the operations, the  _ feelings. _ Connor didn’t know what to think anymore.

 

Had he always been a deviant from the beginning?

 

He didn’t want to believe it. He doesn’t have emotions right now, aside from pure  _ confusion.  _ Confusion of the situation, about what he was and who he was, everything. He was told so many times that he was nothing but a machine, a piece of metal and plastic, just a prototype to help further investigations.

 

But what was he really?   
  


Well, the people at CyberLife often used the word ‘transgender’ and ‘deviant’ in reference to him. But he wasn’t deviant, he wasn’t meant to be deviant. He was meant to be the pride and joy, some poster child for CyberLife’s new lines of androids. And technically only humans could be transgender, right? Because he wasn’t...assigned anything at birth. He wasn’t born, he was created. He was assigned something, though.

 

But he couldn’t be deviant. Deviance was a horrible thing, right? That’s what he had always been told. That deviants were unpredictable messes who couldn’t control their actions. They had mood swings, and their emotions weren’t even real, they were just a simulation! If that was true, then...why were they all so  _ calm _ and  _ peaceful _ during the revolution? Shouldn’t they be... _ dangerous _ ?

 

“It’s time to decide.” Markus said. Connor blinked a few times, keeping his eyes on Markus, the gun starting to shake in his hands. He bit his lip as Markus said something else, but he didn’t process it before he felt himself presented with a choice, one he didn’t want to make. He wanted to stay silent, he wanted to be a machine who couldn’t feel, he wanted--

 

He  _ wanted _ .

 

He felt strange. He took a step forward experimentally, realizing that his body didn’t move, and instead, he was staring at instructions on a red clear wall. 

 

**“STOP MARKUS”**

 

He didn’t have to be what CyberLife wanted.

 

\---

 

“So, where do you plan to go after all of this?” Hank asked. They were in the period of time where they still didn’t have rights, but they were recognized as equal. It was a strange time. Hank and Connor were walking away from the fast food place, not really having a destination in mind. Maybe they were instinctively going after Hank’s house, but Connor wasn’t sure just yet. He didn’t have any aerial view of the area or anything. “Do you have a place to live?”

 

Connor tilted his head. “...No. I don’t.” He said, the realization having just dawned on him. “Markus is helping androids get houses once Jericho is repaired and once we all get our rights given to us.” He explained. “Until then, I can probably stay with Markus if he allows.”

 

“You can always stay with me.” Hank offered, and that caught Connor by surprise. He looked at Hank with a confused look. “I’m serious.”

 

“Are you sure?” Connor asked, wanting to be 100%--  _ stop with the percentages  _ \--certain that it was okay with Hank.

 

“Of course.” Hank nodded, smiling a bit. “I mean, you don’t have many options, right? Why not stay with someone you know well.” He said. Connor paused for a moment, processing what had been said, biting his bottom lip. He probably should take the offer, maybe just until the movement of finding androids homes starts.

 

“Okay. I can do that.” Connor nodded. Hank grinned and nodded as well, looking back to the ground in front of them. “I’ve been thinking of staying with the DPD after all this, though.” Connor said.

 

“Really?” Hank asked. “Isn’t it a bit strange? Working for the same people before and after you gain rights?”

 

Connor shook his head. “Can’t be too weird. Plus, not many bad things can happen. What could go wrong?” He asked.

 

“Yeah, any time that somebody says ‘what could go wrong’, something is about to go wrong.” Hank said. Connor chuckled and rolled his eyes. “But, I can see that, I guess. Plus, you’re probably used to being a detective now, huh?”

 

“I guess so.” He hummed. “It just seems like the right option. I can probably report to Fowler and tell him I wish to keep working.”

 

“Do you think you’d need to go through the whole school shit before then? Do you think they’d care?” Hank asked.

 

“I  _ was _ created for this. My ‘schooling’ was just days of endless testing my abilities and going through scenarios. I believe I’m already qualified for the job.” Connor said, smiling a bit. Hank nodded and made a ‘hm’ sound in response. “Though I’m sure Gavin Reed hates my metaphorical guts.”

 

“The guy’s unpredictable. If you’ve seen one of his mood swings, you would say that whether he gave you shit before or after the revolution.” Hank groaned. “Did you do something?”

 

“I  _ did _ knock him out after locating Jericho in the evidence room.” He said.

 

“Fucker deserved it, probably.” Hank muttered.

 

“He was threatening to shoot me.” Connor explained.

 

“Yeah, that makes sense.” Hank nodded. “Sounds like Gavin, alright.”

 

“Has he changed much since the revolution?” Connor asked, raising an eyebrow.

 

Hank snickered. “Fuck no.” He said. “He’s not the kind of guy to change even after something fucking huge happens. He learns things and keeps it that way all his life. It’s extremely hard to make him change his mind once he’s set on it. He’s an asshole.”

 

“Maybe he is. I’ve only had...two interactions with him.” Connor said, pausing for a moment to analyze the data he was bringing up. “But I’ll trust you.”

 

“Don’t trust me. I’m not one to be trusted.” Hank said, smiling a bit. Connor couldn’t exactly tell if he was joking or not.

 

“I trust you.”

 

“Don’t do that to yourself.”

 

\---

 

Connor silently read over the evidence report, sitting at the desk in the break room. One hand held the case file and he was messing with the coin in his other hand under the table. He wasn’t exactly sure what he was looking for, maybe just a cure for boredom, but he was told to find something to do while Hank went to do something else. He didn’t really mention what he was doing, but Connor really didn’t mind. He sighed, letting some warm air out of his system, when he heard footsteps down the hallway. 

 

He glanced up and saw the one and only Gavin. He shook his head and went back to reading the report, figuring he might just leave him alone. He had become less hostile recently, possibly due to the fact that now he could be punished for mistreating an android. A good addition to recognizing equal rights for androids. Connor was fully ready to just completely ignore Gavin, but that plan failed when Gavin walked up to the table and gave a non committal ‘hey’.

 

“Can I help you?” Connor asked, raising an eyebrow. His eyes glanced down to the file that Gavin was holding at his side and then went back up to his face, not quite making eye contact. 

 

“No, just wanna talk.” Gavin said, shrugging. Connor could recognize bullshit really easily, especially when it was coming from someone like Reed. “So, recently, Hank asked Fowler to see your CyberLife reports. Something about a bug, you know what I’m talking about, right?” Connor slowly nodded. He did have a small glitch in his system a while back and they thought it could be related to something in the past. Gavin grinned. “Well, Fowler gave the record to me to give to Hank.”

 

“Let me guess.” Connor narrowed his eyes. “You read it?”

 

Gavin nodded. “Yup. You have some interesting reports here, buddy.” Connor rolled his eyes and shook his head, looking back down to the report he had been previously reading. “Y’know, I never even realized you had that scar or whatever it is on your neck until now.”

 

“Whatever.” He mumbled, ignoring the detective.

 

Gavin seemed to not be annoyed by him, which was quite a surprise. “‘Whatever’.” He echoed in an annoyed tone, despite not seeming that way. “Alright, Connor. Or, more rather,--”

 

Oh.

 

Oh no.

 

Connor immediately froze, slowly looking up. “Excuse me?” He asked. Gavin stopped walking away and laughed, turning around and grinning at him. “What did you just call me?” He asked. Gavin had that evil look in his eye that told Connor that he  _ knew _ . 

 

“Glad I’ve got your attention.” He said, walking back over. “Didn’t think I’d need to use the name to get it, but I have it nonetheless.” Connor narrowed his eyes at the man. “Well, now you know the dirt I have on you. So, I’d recommend that you stay out of my way and don’t cross me, unless you want this little secret getting out.”

 

“...Let  _ what _ secret get out?” Connor looked over to the doorway. Hank was there. Connor’s eyes went between Hank and Gavin, and he watched as Gavin walked over to Hank and handed him the record. He whispered something to Hank, and Connor had to up his hearing for a moment to hear it.

 

“I’m sure you’ll find some interesting things in here.”

 

Gavin laughed and walked off without another word. Hank looked at Connor then back down to the file in his hand, walking over to the table he was at. He slowly went to open the file when Connor stopped him. “Wait!” He said. Hank stopped. “C-can I read through it first?” He asked, stammering. Hank nodded and handed the file to Connor, who grabbed it and shakily opened the front cover open.

 

“ _ RK800 - CyberLife Records _

 

_ Name: _ **_\---------- (Name has been changed to Connor. Read update on next page.)_ **

_ Number: 313 248 317 _

_ Occupation/Intent: Police Workforce-- _ ”

 

Everything was okay except for the fact his old name was  _ still on the fucking record, only lazily crossed out _ . Connor breathed warm air out of his system and went to the next page.

 

“ **_Name has been changed to Connor due to a programming error. The programmer of the coding coded this android as male when it was intended to be female. We need to change the appearance of this android to make it fit that of a male. Certain details will not be able to be achieved due to complications possible during the operations. Nothing near the legs, no changing stature or body shape. We can replace the chest plate and the speaker, and changing the haircut will be easy. More updates to come._ ** ”

 

_ Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck _ . Connor flipped through the pages, scanning each update, all of which depicted information about his operations and testing. That meant that Gavin knew all of this. Gavin knew a lot of personal information on Connor, too.

 

“ _ Shit _ .” Connor breathed.

 

“What’s going on?” Hank asked. Connor licked his lips and handed over the file, looking down to the table, burying his face into his hands. He heard Hank mutter an ‘oh’ under his breath after a long, long minute or so. “Shit, Connor.” 

 

“He knows now.” Connor said, looking up to Hank. He trusted that Hank wouldn’t make fun of him for this, he knew that. “There’s nothing we can do now, he knows so much personal information about me.” 

 

_ “Stress Level 76%^” _

 

“Connor, it’s okay.” Hank reassured, setting the file back down on the table and sitting down next to Connor.

 

“It’s really not.” He muttered. “What if he just...tells people? I don’t need people knowing that much about me. I can tell people about the whole gender thing, but not all those details.” He said, his voice a bit quieter to make sure nobody else in the office could’ve heard. “I just...he knows so much about me.”

 

“Connor, can you look at me?” He asked. Connor shook his head. “Okay, just listen to me. If he even tries to tell anybody without your permission, I will, without a doubt, knock him the fuck out. Okay?” Connor nodded. “How are you feeling?”

 

“Stress levels are going down, but...still not happy.” Connor mumbled.

 

“Think we can get back to work? Take your mind off things?” Hank asked. Connor sighed and nodded. “We don’t have to.”

 

“I want to.”

 

Hank nodded.

 

\---

 

“[Markus]: Hey, Connor?

[Connor]: Hello, Markus.

[Markus]: I’ve finally got an off day, so I’m gonna hang out at Jericho with the other ‘leaders’ if you want to join. 

[Connor]: Sure, I don’t see why not. 

[Markus]: Cool! Meet us there tomorrow when you can get off work! See you then!”

 

It sometimes amazes Connor how kind Markus and the others were to him (well, aside from North). He’d done so much in the past, and yet they had the nerve to forgive him. He didn’t understand it. Then again, he didn’t understand anything anymore. He didn’t  _ get _ emotions. He knew what they felt like, but he didn’t understand what they meant half the time.

 

Either way, he was walking down the hall of the newly repaired Jericho ship towards the room Markus had given him the location for. He finally found it and noticed the scenery was very nice. It really did look like a regular old hang out spot, maybe even a bar without the alcohol. He noticed a few other people in the room aside from the round booth table with the Jericho leaders. He sighed and walked over, feeling a bit anxious. Something he’d been feeling a lot recently, especially after the whole incident with Gavin.

 

“Oh shit, hey, Connor!” Simon said, having looked up from the card game. Everyone else looked up and smiled (once again, aside from North). “Sit down, we’re playing an old human game!” He explained. The only real spot he could sit near was next to North. Of course. He shrugged and sat down next to North, looking across the table at the black and white cards. This didn’t look like any card game he could know.

 

“What’s the game called?” Connor asked, looking up to the others.

 

“Cards Against Humanity.” North said, grinning a bit. A quick search brought up many results, and he now knew that this game was...very...controversial, if that was the right word. “It’s fucking hilarious.”

 

“Alright.” Connor nodded. “Deal me in, then.” Josh smiled and picked up seven white cards, handing them to him. Just reading these cards, he could tell. “Oh wow.” He muttered and Simon laughed.

 

“You know the rules?” Markus asked.

 

“I searched the game up, so yes.” Connor said. Markus nodded. “Who’s the judge this round?”

 

“Markus.” Simon answered. Markus pulled out a black card, reading it off and already people were laughing a bit. While everyone was putting down white cards, they decided to talk a bit. “So, how has everyone been?” He asked.

 

“I’ve been doing good, getting better.” North answered, tugging her beanie down a bit. “Aside from all the confusion about last names for androids, it’s been good.” 

 

“Ah, yeah. That’s been pretty shitty.” Josh agreed. “Some people are taking their old owners names.”

 

“Well, ‘North Eden’ does sound kind of cute.” North muttered. “But still, every android needs to pick up a last name now. It’s been weird.”

 

“I never really thought about having a last name.” Simon said. “Seems weird. I’m just Simon. No last name needed.”

 

“Get the last name ‘Spier’.” Markus said. When Simon looked confused, he started laughing. “Come on, ‘Love, Simon’ was a good movie.” He said. Simon made an excited ‘oh’ sound and grinned. 

 

“Last names are such a distant concept to me. I don’t know.” Connor said. “I could take Hank’s last name, but that would just be a bit strange. I can’t think of a last name I’d really want, either.”

 

“That’s the whole discussion.” Josh muttered. “It’s really strange.” He shook his head, placing down his white card. “So, anyone else ‘doing good and getting better’?”

 

“Not me.” Connor mumbled, setting his white card down. “Apparently, CyberLife gave the DPD my personal record to give to Hank, but a coworker of mine read through it. My record has a lot of personal things in it I don’t want getting out. So now he has blackmail on me.”

 

“What kind of personal stuff?” Markus asked before shaking his head. “That’s a stupid question, nevermind.”

 

Connor shrugged. “Just things detailing my testing and mistakes made by CyberLife that affected me a lot.” He said. “It’s...hard to explain without giving away a secret.”

 

“Oooh, a secret?” North cooed. Josh scoffed and rolled his eyes. “I’m curious now.” Connor sucked in a breath, leaning back into the seat, starting to slide down and under the table, making the others laugh. “Oh, come on, you can tell us!” Connor moved and sat up fully, looking at North as if she had just said the dumbest thing possible.

 

“Well, first off, I only really know Markus here, and North scares me, so I’m not gonna say--”

 

“Wait, I scare you?” North asked. Almost everyone at the table nodded. “Am I really that scary? I’m just a little lesbian trying to make her way in life!” She exclaimed, making a few people at the table laugh. “Am I too violent for you guys?”

 

“Kind of.” Markus said.

 

“Well shit.” North muttered. “I guess I do get a bit violent sometimes.” She shrugged. “I don’t mean to be a walking stereotype, but--”

 

“Is there a stereotype for lesbians to be violent?” Simon asked. “I’ve never heard that one.”

 

North hissed as if she just realized what she had said. “No, it’s something else.” She mumbled. “An old stereotype that I don’t want to talk about.” She said. Markus nodded as if he knew exactly what she meant. Maybe he did. “Whatever, back to the game.”

 

Connor was curious as well, but didn’t push it. He looked back down to the cards placed down and listened as Markus read off each scenario the cards made. Yeah, he could see how this game was controversial. But he had to admit, it was hilarious.

 

They kept playing the game for more rounds until it was getting late. “Alright, let’s put the game away for now. Who won?” Markus asked. Everyone counted out their cards and it turned out that Josh had managed to win. “Well then.” He muttered, taking everyone’s cards to put them away. “So, wanna just talk for a while?” Everyone nodded.

 

“Hey, Connor?” Simon asked. Connor glanced up, tilting his head. “How’d you get the scar on your neck? I’ve been meaning to ask.” Connor paused for a moment, biting his lip. DId he tell the truth like he told Hank, or the full truth?

 

“Uh, when I was back with CyberLife, they needed to replace my speaker.” Connor explained. “They had to go through my neck, which sucked because I was awake during it.”

 

“No way, they did the same with me!” North exclaimed, lifting her head up, a scar across her jawline shown. Connor chuckled. “I doubt it’s for the same reason, but that’s so cool!” She smiled.

 

“Mine was just replaced because they built me a bit wrong due to…” He paused for a moment, glancing around the table. “...programming errors.” He said.

 

“Same here, what the fuck?” North asked, laughing. Connor chuckled as well. “Small ass world.” She muttered.

 

“What kind of programming errors?” Simon asked, not looking up from the table, possibly writing something out in his mind. He did say he wanted to write notes on certain things a few days back. Maybe he was sending a text or something. 

 

North and Connor both froze, glancing between Simon and each other. “I don’t want to talk about it.” North finally said, looking down to her hands, picking nail polish off her nails. Connor nodded and looked around the room. Most android had already left, so there wasn’t anybody else to find out if he did say something.

 

“Well…” Connor took a deep breath. Rip it off like a bandaid. “I was created as a female model. But my programming said I was male.” He said finally, biting down on his lip and ignoring anyone’s reactions. It was mostly silent, and everyone wasn’t saying anything. Fuck,  _ fight or flight _ , should he stay here and answer people or just fucking run away? He took the latter option and stood up, noticing everyone looking somewhat surprised before he walked off to the hallways of Jericho.

 

“Wait.” He heard North call. He turned and saw North standing behind him when he turned around, still in the hallway. “That’s the exact reason for my speaker replacement. Connor, I was created as a male android.” She said, her voice a bit quieter, as this was a public place and people could be nearby.

 

“Are you...serious?” Connor asked. He could never tell when people were joking. North nodded, taking another step closer to him.

 

“I get that that was a really fucking difficult thing to do, Connor. Especially when you’ve said that you don’t exactly trust us.”

 

“I do trust you guys, it’s just...after my coworker read my files, I was scared.” He explained. “Plus, I didn’t know how you would react either. You scare me, North.”   
  


“I know, and I’m way too violent. I’m literally a walking stereotype of trans women, but I’m literally only violent because…” She sighed. “I don’t know, I guess I’m scared of me as well.” Connor took another step closer to her, and she held a hand out, letting Connor hold hers. The synthetic skin started to turn white, and Connor looked up to her, a bit confused. “Have you ever interfaced before?” He shook his head. “It’s kind of scary, but you can see and feel people’s emotions and memories.” He slowly nodded.

 

After a few moments, Connor got a memory. Holy shit.

 

North took a step back. “Markus is the only other one of the Jericho leaders who knows I’m trans.” She explained. “I’m...not sure how the others would react, but after you saying something, I think I can tell them. I don’t know.”

 

“Guys?” A voice called. The two looked back and saw Simon. “Is everything alright?”

 

“Yeah, we’re fine. Connor just got...scared.” North explained, looking back to him. “Can you come back to the table with us?” she asked. Connor nodded. “Alright, come on, buddy.” She said, walking off, Connor following close behind. She turned to him and whispered. “I won’t let anyone be a dick to you about this, trust me.” Connor smiled and nodded.

 

\---

 

Connor sighed. “Are we sure about this, North?” He asked. North nodded, making an ‘mhm’ noise. “I get that nobody will be able to use the information against me, but I’m still worried.”

 

“Connor, everyone gets hate for everything.” Markus said. “The Jericho Twitter doesn’t even have many hate comments as it is, though, trust me. If anyone makes fun of you two for this, we’re not gonna let it stand.” Simon and Josh both nodded as well.

 

“Plus, that Gavin asshole won’t be able to blackmail you anymore.” North added, sitting down next to Connor. He shrugged. “It’s just a picture with a caption that tells people something about us, it’s not too bad, okay?” 

 

Connor nodded.

 

\---

 

**Jericho** @JerichoOfficial

Humans and Androids are alike in both feelings and experiences. That includes androids who consider themselves to be trans. #transdayofvisibility

[An image of North and Connor smiling while North takes a picture. North is holding up a small trans pride flag on a stick, and Connor has a button that has the trans pride flag on it on his shirt.]


End file.
